Golf Family History

Of uncertain origin, apparently topographic, it might be from Middle English go(u)lf gulf (compare Old French gouffre) ‘deep cavity, gorge, gulf’, perhaps also ‘whirlpool’ or ‘swallow-hole’. These senses were first recorded in the 16th century, but no such features have been identified in or near the places where the surname first appears in the 13th and 14th centuries.

Middle English golf (Old Scandinavian gólf) meaning ‘bay in a barn where corn, hay, etc. is stacked’ is an alternative formal possibility. However, it seems an unlikely source of a surname.

This is especially true considering the relatively high social status of the medieval bearers of the name.